C.R.E.A.M. radio

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Enjoy!

There's movement

A shaky start then. It's been many moons since I last added content here.

The reason for beginning ended.

And I've not listened to much hip-hop for a while now and to be honest, my interest in keeping up to speed on things has waned. I'm tired of hearing the same old shit and bored with the drudgery of sifting through masses of unimaginative drivel to find the little gems of brilliance.

Which is the reason for not progressing much beyond the shaky beginnings.

But I heard some tunes from an album titled Decomposition by an Artist named Decompoze and I was reminded that you don't have to dig 13 year old CD's out of your collection to hear some classic Hip Hop.

So I might make a bit more of an effort to search out more jewels such as this. It could very well be a worthwhile investment of my time for these kinds of rewards.
Perhaps I'll even tap out a few words here should I be as lucky again.

Where are all the mixtapes?

They're still there.
New Hip Hop Mixtapes every day.

Only I don't have the time to monitor for new ones at present (and in fact I haven't since the middle of may) and to be very honest, I'm hardly listening to any Hip Hop music at the moment.
I find myself doing this every so often; not following the music and not following the culture.   I still love it and I'm certain I always will, but sometimes it just the same old shit and I'm tired of it and I don't feel the need to expend any energy until I can see that the effort will be rewarded with some quality tunes.
So roll on Detox Mr. Dre; Mr. NWA; Mr. AK - coming straight out of Compton y'all better make way!
We need the Chronic Part Two too.  Go get it from the Old Dude with the mechanical legs.

Back to the point.  The website that used to be, in my humble opinion, an excellent one to visit if you were unable to determine which Hip Hop Mixtapes on any given online mixtape store were the most recently released has now gone.  If you wanted to know what Hip Hop Mixtapes were released today, or yesterday, or on any given day between 29th December 2003 and 18th May 2005 then you could have done worse than to have a look there, but now you cannot.
The pages there are currently redirecting to their respective pages in another place, but before February is through it will no longer do that and an archive of the pages at www.jahboite.co.uk/mixtapes will be all that remains.
It's a shame because it was a useful website.  I tend towards thinking that I may have cruelly cut it off at it's source just as it seemed to have mastered walking and was beginning to break into a bit of a run.

Who knows what may happen though, in the future.

A Love Affair

The first time I can remember hearing Hip Hop was in 1988. I stole a tape out of the school bag which belonged to a kid who was a friend only in the very loosest of terms and who often bullied me at school.
I slipped the unmarked (clear plastic with metal side panels within) tape in to my small Sharp radio cassette player when I was at home later that same day without considering that my life was about to reach a defining moment - so far unequalled in it's importance.


Power - It starts with P like Pussy.
She knows she's got it, she doesn't wear it does she?
Spending your cash,
leaving you in the trash,
while your little head's thinking they're gone in a dash.
They Got It, Know It, that's why they Show It,
The Power of Sex.
If man could overthrow it - he'd be rich in a day!
No Way,
We Get Rich, Hard, give it away.
We're weak and as we speak,
the Girls are hawking,
sizin' me up straight out as I'm talking.
You gotta have control if you want the goal,
I don't wanna be alone - like Stallone
so I keep my mind thinking bout the green
and stop dwelling on the in-between.
I got Power!

Ice T and his Power Album came bumping out of my speakers and I was hooked.
In June 2003 a friend of mine explained to me what a mixtape was. I didn't know before then what I'd been missing. I hadn't realised that so much more hip hop music was available than what was offered by HMV and Virgin Megastores. Music that wouldn't get near a chart-show for months. Music that may never be released. Music from artists without a contract. Battle rhymes and freestyles. Interviews. Comedy. And more.
Mixtapes opened the door fully to the world of hip hop to me and I found there were hundreds every month to be heard.
I found several places on the web where I could buy mixtapes and I tasked myself with keeping up to date with the latest releases and enjoying more new hip hop music than I'd got time to listen to. I began www.jah.clara.net at the beginning of 2004 as a way to make a record of the latest mixtapes with their release dates. The theory is that the websites that sell mixtapes do not always make it clear how old or new a mixtape might be and only by visiting the sites very regularly does this become apparent . So I created a mixtape page at the end of 2003.
I visit hip hop mixtape vendors on the web (several) on a daily basis and add the details of new hip hop mixtapes to the mixtape page. I provide a track list and links to the sites that sell the new mixtapes, but I don't display the artwork/sticker images as they slow down the flow of information.
A side-effect of this process is that I have a record of the websites which regularly get new hip hop mixtapes before the rest and which ones get exclusives that other sites don't have available when new.
The main purpose of the mixtape page is this:
If you want to know what new hip hop mixtapes became available today (or on any day since the beginning of 2004) then these mixtape pages will tell you!

Hello

So this is it. I've arrived. jah is blogging.
I'm hoping this space I've carved for myself (and you valued reader) will become a mine of information on what's new in the world of Hip Hop Music and my very small part in that world.

I leave you now, but I shall return.